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10 ways Industrial AI is changing how engineers work

The Eigen Engineering Agent shows what happens when Industrial AI stops advising and starts doing. Here's what that looks like in practice.

1. It writes automation code – and tests it before you do

We know that experienced automation engineers are scarce. The Eigen Engineering Agent helps the team you already have deliver more with fewer errors. It generates Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) code in Structured Control Language (SCL) and Ladder Logic (LAD), adapts existing logic, creates test routines and fixes compile errors. It is also not enough for it to just deliver code, the Eigen Engineering Agent validates its own work through multi-step reasoning and self-correction. This means engineers are reviewing output, rather than building from scratch.

2. It understands your project, not just your prompt

By now most people that have used an Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT know how much time it can take to even get the prompt right. This is because most AI tools work from general knowledge. The Eigen Engineering Agent doesn’t. It works from specific knowledge directly in your TIA Portal project (Function Blocks, User Defined Data Types, HMI screens and their relationships) and generates output grounded in that specific context. You will find yourself spending less time on prompting, rework and fewer mismatches.

Engineering Copilot TIA_SCL_2_dark

3. It bridges the gap between electrical design and automation code

Electrical and automation engineers have always worked in sequence, using different tools and different ways of describing the same machine. Translating between the two - retyping device lists, fixing mismatched names, tracking late hardware changes - is currently manual, slow and error-prone. The Eigen Engineering Agent now reads electrical design files in widely used formats, including XML and AML. It detects inconsistencies, resolves or flags them, adds devices to the TIA Portal project, configures the connections and generates PLC tags grounded in the actual hardware topology.

4. It turns a plain-language machine description into a ready-to-use project

A new automation project starts with the same setup work: breaking the machine down into parts, naming the modules, organizing data, defining state machines. Even experienced teams spend days on this before writing a single line of control software. The Eigen Engineering Agent turns machine descriptions into standards-compliant projects in minutes. Engineers describe the machine in plain language: its stations, devices and how it should behave, and the agent then generates a complete project that follows the Siemens Automation Framework, Siemens' best-practice reference for structuring TIA Portal projects. The project opens directly in TIA Portal, ready to build on.

5. It handles HMI development – including legacy migration

HMI work can be where projects fall behind schedule. This is one of the most time-consuming parts of automation engineering, and one of the most repetitive. Automating it saves that time. The Eigen Engineering Agent generates and integrates JavaScript for dynamic HMI behavior in WinCC Unified, supports the transition of classic VB scripts and enables fast, consistent setup of dynamic tag behavior.

6. It configures drives, hardware and networks from a spreadsheet

Hardware configuration is error-prone because it is repetitive. With The Eigen Engineering Agent, drive configuration, device setup and PROFINET topology can all be handled by the agent – including bulk imports from spreadsheets. Instead of manually entering device lists one by one, engineers upload a file and let the agent configure everything consistently.

7. It's already delivering measurable results in more than 100 companies

Industrial AI solutions can feel more like proof-of-concept than real world impact. But our production-grade Industrial AI is already delivering measurable returns at global scale. More than 100 companies across 19 countries are using the Eigen Engineering Agent. In these projects we are already seeing two to five times faster execution than manual workflows, up to 50 percent efficiency gains in engineering and up to 80 percent improvement in overall solution quality. Read how CASMT is using the Eigen Engineering Agent.

8. It explains what it finds – not just what it builds

Understanding a project is sometimes harder than building one. The Eigen Engineering Agent is designed to explain context, accelerating every engineer on the team, not just the ones who originally built the system: the Eigen Engineering Agent provides an overview of devices and logic in unfamiliar or complex TIA Portal projects, translates PLC and HMI texts within seconds and offers step-by-step troubleshooting support. For engineers inheriting legacy projects or working across teams, this alone saves hours.

Engineering Copilot TIA_HMI_1

9. New capabilities come included, not as add-ons

The Eigen Engineering Agent is built to scale access, not gate it. Engineers get better tools without a new procurement conversation every time a capability ships. Both the newest capabilities – ECAD integration and standards-compliant project generation – are included in the standard Eigen Engineering Agent subscription at no additional cost. There's also a free one-month trial to get started.

10. This is what Industrial AI looks like when it leaves the screen

Most conversations about AI still center on text and images. The Eigen Engineering Agent is Industrial AI that acts in the physical world: it helps build the machines, factories and infrastructure that keep everyday life running. As Peter Koerte, our Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, put it: "It makes companies up to 50% more efficient in complex engineering work, while making the results more reliable. That's what it takes to build the machines, factories, and infrastructure that keep everyday life running - and it's what real value from AI in the physical world looks like”

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